Re-aliner for paper roll photocopying machine



Sept. 28, 1965 R. B. BRINDLEY RE-ALINER FOR PAPER ROLL PHOTOGOPYING MACHINE Filed Jan. 14, 1963 m/vf/vro/e R/CHARD 5. BR/NDLE) ATTORNEYS 3,208,323 RE-AMNER 1 9R PAPER ROLL PHOTO- COPYHNG MACHINE Richard B. Erindley, La Crosse, Wis, assignor to Microcard Reader Corporation, West Salem, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin Filed .lan. 14, 1963, Ser. No. 251,261 9 Claims. (Cl. 83-261) This invention relates to a re-aliner for a paper roll photocopying machine and more particularly to apparatus for alining a web of paper or the like with the feed rolls therefor.

It has heretofore been proposed to provide photocopying machines using rolls or similar continuous webs of paper from which exposed sections or sheets can be cut off and developed. One such machine is more particularly disclosed and claimed in the co-pending application of Brindley et al., Serial No. 106,250, filed Apr. 28, 1961.

In such machines and in similar machines using continuous webs of paper or similar film material, difficulties have been encountered in preventing mis-alinement of the webs relative to the feed rolls therefor. Such misalinement is cumulative so that unless it is corrected, it tends to increase to the point where the machine may become inoperative.

In the machines of the type of said prior application the feed rolls are moved periodically out of engagement with the paper as the exposed portion of the paper is being sheared from the web. Releasing of the paper by the feed rolls gives it an opportunity to re-aline itself, but it was found in actual practice that this did not always occur, especially in the case of the positive paper web. Similar difficulties might well be encountered in similar machines in which the web is periodically released for one reason or another and it will be understood that references herein to photocopying machines should be taken to include different types of machines using webs of paper or of other film material.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a re-aliner for a paper roll photocopying machine in which the web of paper is automatically and positively re-alined with the feed rolls therefor each time the web is released by the feed rolls.

According to a feature of the invention, each time the feed rolls are separated, one or more movable guide members are caused to move to engage an edge or edges of the web so as to center the web relative to the feed rolls. In the preferred construction, these movable guide members are actuated simultaneously with separation of the feed rolls, as, for example, by providing the guide members with cam surfaces that are positioned to be engaged by a movable one of the feed rolls so as to cam the guide members toward their paper-engaging-andcentering positions.

The above and other objects and features of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial side view with parts in section of paper feed rolls in operative position and equipped with a web realiner that embodies the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the paper feed rolls in spaced apart condition;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view, showing in full lines the position of parts corresponding with FIG. 1 and showing in broken lines the position of certain parts corresponding with FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary front elevation view with the end cover of the machine removed;

3,268,323 Patented Sept. 28, 1965 FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the movable guide members.

The paper re-aliner is shown as applied to a photocopying machine of the type more particularly disclosed in the co-pending application referred to above. This machine comprises a casing 10 closed at one end by an end cover 11 which may be opened for threading or filling the machine. A web 12 of negative type paper is fed from a supply roll carried in the lower part of the housing along the inner surface of the end cover 11. With the negative paper in this position, it may be exposed through a suitable lens system to produce an image thereon.

A similar sheet or web of positive paper 13 is fed from a supply roll mounted in the upper part of the casing over a guide member 14 and into face-to-face contact with the negative paper web 12. The two webs then pass between a feed roller 15 which is rotatable on a fixed axis in the casing and a second feed roller 16 which is mounted for parallel movement toward and away from the feed roller 15. The feed rollers may be driven through drive gearing mounted on the outside of the housing, as disclosed in the application referred to above.

After leaving the feed rollers, the webs of negative and positive paper are separated by a paper separator 17 with the negative paper passing above the separator and the positive paper passing below the separator over a guide block 18.

After leaving the separator, the exposed sections or sheets of the paper are severed from the webs by a shearing mechanism. This mechanism, as shown, includes an anvil 19 and a shear blade 21 which is moved downwardly across the edge of the anvil to shear the paper. The anvil may be movably mounted and resiliently urged against the shear blade to insure a clean cutting of the paper, as disclosed in the application referred to above. When the paper is to be sheared, then the shear blade 21, together with holders 22 to which the blades ends are secured, is moved downwardly to shear the paper against the anvil. The sheared sheets may then be carried away from the shear station for further processing, such as development of the paper.

The lower feed roll 16 is supported on a pair of hell crank arms 23 pivotally mounted on pivots 24 adjacent to the opposite ends of the feed rollers. As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the movable feed roller 16 terminates at its ends in reduced hub portions 25 from which reduced shafts 26 extend. The shafts 26 are journalled in extensions of the bell crank levers which are horizontally displaced from the bell crank pivots 24, so that when the bell crank levers are rocked in a clockwise direction (as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2), then the roller 16 will be moved bodily away from the roller 15 to disengage the paper. Normally the bell crank levers are urged in a counterclockwise direction by springs 27, so as to bias the feed rolls toward engagement with each other, and so as to grip the paper webs 12 and 13 between them.

The feed roll 16 is caused to move away from the feed roll 15, to disengage the paper webs during the shearing operation. For this purpose the guide members 22 which support the shearing blade are formed with projecting cam surfaces 28 which will engage the upper bulged ends 30 of the bell crank levers 23 when the shear blade is moved downwardly. Engagement of these cam surfaces of the upper ends of the bell crank levers will rock the bell crank levers clockwise to move the feed roll 16 away from the feed roll 15 and to release the paper between the feed rolls.

Now, by the instant invention, in order to re-aline the paper webs with the feed rolls during the intervals when the feed rolls 15 and 16 are spaced apart and do not I 3 clamp the paper webs therebetween, one or more movable guide members are provided for moving against the edges of the paper webs. Preferably, one movable guide member is provided adjacent each end of the feed roller 16, although a movable guide could be provided at only one end and a fixed guide at the opposite end of roller 16.

As shown, each movable guide member includes a horizontal plate 29 which is pivoted on the shank of a vertical pivot screw 31 carried by frame member 14 below roller 16 and adjacent to an end of roller 16. The plate 29 carries thereon a paper-engaging guide flange 32 adapted to engage the edges of the paper webs 12 and 13. Preferably, the cover 11 is formed with a recess 33 which is spanned by the paper webs 12 and 13 and into which recess the guide flange 32 may project to insure engagement thereof with the edges of the paper webs.

The plate 29 also carries thereon a second upwardly extending flange 34. The flange 34 is spaced outwardly rela tive to flange 32 (FIG. 4), and flange 34 is shaped to define an inclined cam edge 35, sloping in directions downwardly and away from cover 11, and adapted to be engaged by movable roller 16. The guide flange 34 is normally positioned so that the cam surface 35 thereon engages the reduced hub portion 25 of the movable roller 16. The cam edge 35 is normally resiliently held against roller 16 by an elongated wire spring member 36 secured at one end to the plate 29 and engaging and abutting at its other end a vertical portion of the machines frame, such as the paper guide member 14-. The spring normally urges the guide member 29 to turn in a clockwise direction to the full line position shown in FIG. 3.

Now, when the feed roll 16 is moved downwardly away from the feed roll by clockwise turning of the bell crank levers 23, the hub portion of the roller 16 will move against the cam edge on flange 34, thereby causing counter-clockwise pivoting (FIG. 3) of plate as about the vertical axis of screw 31, and causing the guide flange 32 to move inwardly toward and against the edges of the paper webs (FIG. 2). The movement of the flange 32 against the edges of the paper webs serves to re-aline the paper webs with the feed rolls in the event there is any mis-alinement. Thus with the paper re-aliner oi the present invention the paper webs are accurately realined with the feed rolls each time the paper is freed by the feed rolls, so that the webs will be properly fed through the apparatus over long intervals of operation.

The details of construction of the guide member and spring bias means associated therewith will now be described. The plate 29 and flanges 32 and 34 may be formed from a single sheet metal blank. At the bend between flange 34 and base plate 29 a loop is bent inwardly, and spaced from loop 40 there is defined an aperture 42 in flange 34. The spring 36 projects through loop 40 and has a terminal finger, or hook, 54 which projects laterally through aperture 42, thereby securely connecting the spring to the guide member.

While one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described herein, it will be understood that it is illustrative only and not to be taken as a definition of the scope of the invention, reference being bad for this purpose to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a photocopying machine having a pair of feed rolls for feeding continuous elongated webs of paper and means mounting one of the rolls for movement toward and away from the other to paper engaging and releasing positions, a paper re-aliner comprising guide members normally spaced from both longitudinal edges of the paper web and adjacent to opposite ends of the feed rolls, and means operated simultaneously with movement of said one of the rolls away from the other to paper releasing position to move the guide members toward each other to engage the edges of the paper web and aline it with the rolls, said last named means including camsurfaces defined on the guide members and positioned to be engaged by said one of the rolls as it is moved away from the other roll to move the guide members.

2. In a photocopying machine having a pair of feed rolls for feeding continuous elongated webs of paper and means mounting one of the rolls for movement toward and away from the other to paper engaging and releasing positions, a paper re-aliner comprising guide members pivotally mounted on pivots transverse to the rolls adjacent to the opposite ends of the rolls and having guide surfaces normally spaced from both longitudinal edges of the paper web, and means operated by movement of said one of the rolls away from the other to simultaneously turn the guide members in a direction to move the guide surfaces toward each other into contact with the longitudinal edges of the web.

3. In a photocopying machine having a pair of feed rolls for feeding continuous webs of paper and means mounting one of the rolls for movement toward and away from the other to paper engaging and releasing positions, means maintaining the webs of paper against the one movable roll as it moves between said positions, a paper re-aliner comprising guide members pivotally mounted on pivots transverse to the rolls adjacent to the opposite ends of the rolls and having guide surfaces normally spaced from the edges of the paper Web, and cam projections on the guide members positioned to be engaged by said one movable roll as it moves away from the other roll to turn the guide members in a direction to move the guide surfaces toward cach other.

4. In a photocopying machine having a pair of feed rolls for feeding continuous webs of paper and means to move one of the rolls toward and away from the other to paper engaging and releasing positions, means maintaining the webs of paper against the one movable roll as it moves between said positions, a paper re-aliner comprising a guide member movably mounted adjacent to one end of the rolls in registry with the edge of the web, and means operated by movement of said one movable role away from the other to simultaneously move the guide member toward and against the web of paper.

5. In a photocopying machine having a pair of feed rolls for feeding continuous Webs of paper, means normally biasing the rolls together to effect feeding of the paper, movable means for severing the paper adjacent to the discharge side of the rolls and means operated simultaneously with and by movement of the severing means for moving one of the rolls away from the other roll to stop feeding of the paper during the operation of the severing means, a paper re-aliner comprising a guide member movably mounted at the intake side of the rolls adjacent to one end thereof in registration with the edge of a web of paper entering the rolls, and means operated simultaneously with operation of the severing means and while said one movable roll is moving away from the other roll to move the guide means toward the edge of the web to engage and aline the web with the rolls.

6. The machine of claim 5 is which there is a guide member adjacent to each end of the rolls and the last named means moves the guide members toward each other and against the longitudinal edges of the web to center the web between them.

7. In a photocopying machine having a pair of feed rolls for feeding continuous webs of paper, means normally biasing the rolls together to effect feeding of the paper, movable means for severing the paper adjacent to the discharge side of the rolls and means operated simultaneously with the severing means for moving one of the rolls away from the other roll to stop feeding of the paper during the operation of the severmg means, a paper re-aliner comprising a guide member movably mounted at the intake side of the rolls ad acent to one end thereof in registration with the edge of a Web of paper entering the rolls, and cam means on said guide member positioned to be operated by movement of the movable roller away from the other roller for simultaneously moving the guide member toward and against the edge of the web to engage and aline the web with the rolls.

8. In a photocopying machine having a pair of feed rolls for feeding continuous elongated webs of paper and means mounting one of the rolls for movement toward and away from the other roll to paper engaging and releasing positions, a paper re-aliner comprising a pair of web engaging members normally spaced apart a distance greater than the width of the webs and spaced from the edges of the paper Webs, and means operated simultaneously with and by movement of said one of the rolls away from the other to the paper releasing position to move at least one of the web engaging members toward the other so as to effect engagement by both web engaging members with the longitudinal edges of the paper webs and to aline said webs with the rolls.

9. In a photocopying machine having a pair of feed rolls for feeding continuous elongated webs of paper and means mounting one of the rolls for movement toward and away from the other roll to paper engaging and releas ing positions, a paper re-aliner comprising a pair of web engaging members normally spaced apart a distance greater than the width of the webs and spaced from the edges of the paper webs, and means operated simul- 25 taneously with and by movement of said one of the rolls away from the other to the paper releasing position to move at least one of the web engaging members toward the other so as to effect engagement by both web engaging members with the longitudinal edges of the paper webs and to aline said webs with the rolls, and the movable web engaging member providing an actuator portion thereon positioned in the path of movement of the movable roll, and adapted to be engaged by the movable roll to effect the simultaneous operation of the paper re-aliner as the movable roll moves into the paper releasing position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,300,235 4/19 Anderson 271-52 1,321,807 11/19 Busk 271--52 1,937,576 12/33 Kast et al. 83--261 2,328,612 9/43 Buhler et a1 27152 2,451,752 10/48 Lake et a1. 271-52 X 2,595,630 5/52 Belluche 271-52 2,721,669 10/55 Keely 83-261 X 2,810,437 10/57 Hoitt 83261 X ANDREW R. JUHASZ, Primary Examiner.

WILLIAM W. DYER, JR., Examiner. 

1. IN A PHOTOCOPYING MACHINE HAVING A PAIR OF FEED ROLLS FOR FEEDING CONTINUOUS ELONGATED WEBS OF PAPER AND MEANS MOUNTING ONE OF THE ROLLS FOR MOVEMENT TOWARD AND AWAY FROM THE OTHER TO PAPER ENGAGING AND RELEASING POSITIONS, A PAPER RE-ALINER COMPRISING GUIDE MEMBERS NORMALLY SPACED FROM BOTH LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF THE PAPER WEB AND ADJACENT TO OPPOSITE ENDS FO THE FEED ROLLS, AND MEANS OPERATED SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH MOVEMENT OF SAID ONE OF THE ROLLS AWAY FROM THE OTHER TO PAPER RELEASING POSITION TO MOVE THE GUIDE MEMBERS TOWARD EACH OTHER TO ENGAGE THE EDGES OF THE PAPER WEB AND ALINE IT WITH THE ROLLS, SAID LAST NAMED MEANS INCLUDING CAMSURFACES DEFINED ON THE GUIDE MEMBERS AND POSITIONED TO BE ENGAGED BY SAID ONE OF THE ROLLS AS IT IS MOVED AWAY FROM THE OTHER ROLL TO MOVE THE GUIDE MEMBERS. 